WATCH: Jaylen Clark Talks Defensive Strategy, Mentoring UCLA Freshmen

UCLA men's basketball guard Jaylen Clark spoke with the media ahead of Wednesday morning's practice session at the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. Clark talked about his unique stat line Monday night, how his defense rubs off on teammates, the impact of having shot-blockers in the game, how he has tried to develop as a leader and how he has tried to coach up the freshmen on the roster.

You became the first NBA, WNBA, NCAAM or NCAAW player to put up your stat line in 20 years the other night?

Oh, that’s cool. That’s super cool. I didn’t even go on Twitter or nothing like that. I feel like it’s just a game. I know I’m capable of that type of performance every night, but it’s just one game so I’m not really worried about that. I’m looking on to the future now, we’ve got to get ready for Long Beach State, historically they’ve given us good games here, especially last year, so we’re looking to go ahead and be able to defeat them with ease if we can.

Your defensive mindset rub off on teammates? Do they get more excited about defense based on what you've done?

Oh, yeah, most definitely. I just love telling them, ‘If you want to score, that’s the easiest way, if you’re going to take it from somebody, there isn’t nobody between you and the basket, you go lay it in.’ And also I can’t do what I do without them playing defense. If they’re always getting beat in straight line drives, there wouldn’t be any passing, so they do what they do and I tell them I’ve got them on the back end.

What goes into a steal? How much is scouting and pregame work vs. game flow?

A lot of it’s in-game flow. Before I really get going, like to the first media [timeout], I try to see plays and stuff because I know when I can break on balls and when’s a smart time to go and when’s not because like I tell them, any time I am leaving my dude, so there’s a lot of times if I don’t get it somebody’s going to have a wide-open layup or three, so it’s just calculated risk altogether but I really feel like the game has slowed down tremendously from my freshman to junior year to where now it feels like on the defensive end I’m just having the best time ever.

Ever switch onto another team's hot player as a stopper?

Yeah. I mean, this year defensively we’re much better than last year—everybody can move their feet across the board and we really haven’t had anybody get super hot to this point yet, but if somebody did catch fire, I would either switch onto him on my own or ask coach if I could go ahead and get him but that’s just me and my nature and I know that’s what I pride myself on.

So you've done that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. I remember one time, the last time I can remember was Caleb Love, I got like one or two stops on him before I came out—I played only a little bit, but the time I was in there I did want to guard him.

Hard to watch the end of that game from the bench, then?

Oh, yeah, most definitely. It was hard to watch probably in and out—I know out for sure, so I can’t imagine what they felt like in the game.

How contagious is defense, whether it's you making steals or Adem blocking shots?

I was just about to say, ya’ll even haven’t seen Adem’s debut yet. I always have a joke with him, like that’s my biggest competition for Pac-12 defensive player of the year because he’s a monster. I feel like it’s very contagious, like once you get it started and once my teammates start seeing it more and more and more that they’ll eventually want a piece of that too. If we can put teams to 10, 15 deflections a game, I don’t see many people beating us, I just don’t. I feel like that’s too many uncontested shots, as Cronin would say, and that will keep us in the lead.

Does having a shot-blocker like Adem Bona or Myles Johnson in the game change your defensive mindset on the perimeter?

Uh, especially the way we play this year, I know if I do get beat I’ve got somebody behind me. If I’m playing in front of the ball, I don’t feel like I get beat very often but if I’m out there gambling and stuff like that, I know if I do get beat, Adem’s going to go send it back out, so it makes me a lot more comfortable. It kind of reminds me when I was younger and I was playing with Evan Mobley and Big O, that’s when I was flying around the same way back then because I knew I had people behind me if I got beat.

How much fun is making passes in transition? How much have you worked on that?

It’s something I’ve always had, I bee taking sometimes some too high-risk, that’s why I had some turnovers but I just like getting everybody involved. I was upstairs talking to Tyger today like, ‘I see you in practice every day,’ I don’t care if he’s six for 14, let 14 more go tomorrow, so I just like seeing everybody win, I like seeing everybody happy, I like seeing everybody involved. I was happy for David Singleton because he’s finally grown into the player we know he could be. Jaime and Tyger, trust me, what you saw on Monday was nothing to what I see every day, if you feel what I mean, so I’m just happy and I feel like this team—me and Tyger were just talking about it, it’s not like we necessarily have roles but we just all play off each other so well and we don’t have too many people that need the ball in their hands really to score because Amari can do whatever you need him to—if you need him to bring the ball down the court, if you need him to cut and knock down the open shot, he can do that. I don’t mind spacing and Jaime, ain’t many people guarding him, and Tyger’s one of the best point guards in the nation and so I feel like the team, the chemistry by itself, just how we naturally play and gel is great.

You said slowing down coming with experience, but is that a product of more time in the film room or game reps?

Yeah, I feel like just more game reps. Even on film, when I watch games on TV, they look a lot slower until you actually get out there, people be moving and so much stuff is happening so quick, so if you’re ball-watching you may get backdoored and it’s like, damn, my man’s all the way over there in the corner now. Just, I feel like that’s game reps and time on the court and time in practice and yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Taking on a bigger leadership role?

Uh, yeah. I’m trying to do everything—be a jack of all trades. I’m just trying to leave the biggest fingerprint I can on this university as a person and as an athlete, I love that the student section is coming out, I’m trying to get them involved, academic-wise, I’m trying to graduate early if I can to get a degree and then basketball, I’m trying to leave here with the record book in something, so at least steals, I’m going to go ahead and try to get that number before I get out of here.

Correcting Amari a couple of times – how receptive how freshmen been to your coaching on the floor?

Like I tell everybody, I’ve been playing in high school since we got in high school, we were both at top high schools around here and Dylan Andrews the same way, he played on the Compton Magic with me, so just knowing everybody and we all know it’s coming from a place of love, if you know what I mean, and because we’ve been around each other so long nothing’s taken to heart, if you know what I mean, whatever he’s got to say, I’m going to listen, whatever I’ve got to say, he’s going to listen and then we go out there and do it because at the end of the day everybody’s trying to win. If we win a national championship, everybody’s going to get what they want at the end.

On track to graduate this year?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I should be able to graduate in three years and a summer.

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